COVID-19 Updates

The health and safety of our teams, volunteers and staff is our top priority. FIRST in Michigan is closely monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. As of this writing, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Michigan. As such we have not canceled any of our Michigan FRC events, and FIRST has not canceled The Championship in Detroit.

We do, however, want to make sure that we are taking precautions to keep our teams and visitors to our events safe by instituting good hygiene practices and taking common sense measures to prevent the spread of the virus, including the following:

• Suspending the high-five line during the awards ceremony, and handshake during the final rounds of competition.
• Placing hand sanitizer at many locations throughout the event.
• Regularly wiping down driver stations and other high-touch areas.
• Promoting elbow bumps in lieu of flesh to flesh contact.
• Discontinuing loaning out of safety glasses.
• Asking those that are exhibiting any symptoms to stay at home.
• Asking those that have been exposed to others with the virus not to attend our events.

We will continue to update you as new information that could impact our events is released from FIRST, the CDC and Michigan.gov.

If any of our volunteers feel they are at high-risk or do not feel comfortable attending our events, please just let us know and we will gladly restaff your position.

We will continue to update

Currently, all volunteers and attendees at FRC events will be required to wear a mask from set up to tear down and all the time in between while on-site at the event. This rule applies whether you are unvaccinated or vaccinated once, twice, or twice with a booster. As always, our highest priority is the safety of our volunteers and attendees.

Please share these Covid protocols for events with all attendees associated with your team including students, parents, mentors, sponsors, etc. and resolve any issues before they get to the event. If for any reason someone can not or will not wear a mask, please invite them to watch remotely but make it clear they may not attend.

FIRST in Michigan Fall events for the FIRST LEGO League-Explore, FIRST LEGO League-Challenge, and FIRST Tech Challenge programs will require that masks are worn by all persons while in the event venue for the duration of the event. This includes event set up and tear down. The addition of a mask requirement at our FIRST in Michigan Fall events will allow the events to remain accessible to the greatest number of people, most importantly, our student team members, their coaches and mentors. and our volunteers. 

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) events will likely have the same requirements in place but we will make the final determination as to what is required closer to our March event season. 

At a minimum, all FIRST in Michigan events will follow the CDC and Michigan guidelines. Some venues may have additional requirements which will be included in the individual event’s information posted on each program’s  “Events” page on the FIRST in Michigan website.